HYPOTHESIS AND THEORY article
Front. Neurosci., 20 January 2017
Sec. Child and Adolescent Psychiatry
Volume 10 - 2016 |
https://doi.org/10.3389/fnins.2016.00609...
The goal of this manuscript is to summarize the findings and rationales for applying tVNS to treat ASD and propose potential parameters for tVNS treatment of ASD.
...
The support for applying tVNS as a treatment for ASD can be summarized in four points:
(1) Impaired social-emotional communication skills and repetitive behavior are two core symptoms in ASD from very early childhood to adulthood. The vagus nerve is a key component in regulating the autonomic nervous system, social-emotional function, and adaptive behavior.
...
(2) Studies have suggested that abnormally functioning connections within and between the frontal, temporal and parietal cortices, and subcortical structure (thalamus, amygdala, and hippocampus) are involved in the social dysfunction and repetitive behavior seen in ASD ... Vagal stimulation can modulate the cortical and subcortical (particularly the amygdala and thalamus) functions, which may in turn regulate the disturbed brain function of ASD
...
(3) Disturbed immune function is frequently observed in ASD individuals, the hypothesis of altered immune response in ASD has been proposed ... Studies suggest that stimulation of the vagus nerve could downregulates inflammatory cytokine release
...
(4) tVNS could treat the comorbidities of ASD, such as epilepsy ... and depression ... In addition, studies suggest that the pathogenesis of ASD, epilepsy and depression may overlap ... and tVNS might have a treatment effect on a common pathway of these three disorders ...
Based on the above evidence, we propose that tVNS should be included as a treatment option for ASD
